The Who To Recreate Their "Live At Leeds" Concert

The Who to recreate Leeds concert

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5086954.stm

6/17/2006

Rock band The Who are to recreate their legendary 1970 Leeds University concert to launch their European and US tour.

Singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend, the two surviving original members, will also unveil a plaque at the university to commemorate the gig.

The Live At Leeds recording of the show is still considered one of the best ever live albums.

Other tour venues include Germany, France, Spain and Austria, with US dates starting in September.

The 1970 gig came after The Who's triumphant appearance at Woodstock and included the last complete live performance of the rock opera Tommy.

'Benchmark concert'
The idea to recreate the gig came about after broadcaster Andy Kershaw - who was the entertainments secretary at the university in the early 1980s - approached the band's manager, Bill Curbishley.

Kershaw wanted to know if the band would unveil a plaque commemorating the gig, and asked if they would also consider performing.

"Bill finished my sentence: 'They'll do it.' And so the idea of a concert began," he said.

"Daltrey has very, very vivid memories of the original one and he's very, very excited about doing it again. It was a kind of benchmark concert.

"It defined an era of big bands like The Who playing at college venues and also underpinned the importance of college venues and the live music circuit."